The Defense Finance and Accounting Service's addresses
changed effective May 1, 2017. The old addresses are being discontinued
and will be replaced by addresses in Indianapolis. The new addresses
are:

Retired Pay:

Defense Finance and Accounting Service
U.S. Military Retired Pay
8899 E 56th Street
Indianapolis IN 46249-1200

Annuitant Pay:

Defense Finance and Accounting Service
U.S. Military Annuitant Pay
8899 E 56th Street
Indianapolis IN 46249-1300

The old PO Boxes in London KY will remain open and
all mail will be forwarded to the new address for one year. However,
sending mail to the old address will add three to five days to the normal
processing time. The telephone and fax numbers are not changing.
For additional contact information: https://www.dfas.mil/retiredmilitary.html

The Pease Greeters is an honored group of volunteers
who greet flights of service men and women, at the Pease Air Terminal in
Portsmouth, NH, both returning and heading overseas to the Middle East.
They provide hot coffee, doughnuts, pizza and other refreshments as well
as a bank of twenty permanently mounted phones for use free of charge by
the veterans. In addition to greeting flights at Pease, they manage
a Care Package Program. In the combat theaters of the Middle East
our troops can not always get to a PX. Pease Greeters send care packages,
of sundry items, to our troops that include personal care products, food
snacks and more.

Every summer, with everyone on vacation and schools
closed, the Pease Greeters’ Inventory for Care Packages gets low.
They ship 600 pounds a month, which are 40 cartons, for over 105 soldiers
on their list. Below are some of the items they are low on.
Small sizes so items can be carried in back packs - nothing in large bottles
or packages unless the large package contains many small packets.

For more information and where to drop off the items,
go to the Pease Greeters website at http://www.peasegreeters.org/events.htm
and scroll down to "SOS Care Packages". Any donation would be appreciated.
Gift cards are welcomed. THANK YOU in advance from our Troops.

For more than a decade, Liberty House in Manchester,
NH has been providing a safe, supportive, substance-free housing community
for American veterans transitioning out of homelessness. Since opening
their doors in 2004, their dedicated team of staff and volunteers has helped
more than 200 homeless veterans rejoin their communities and regain fulfilling,
independent lives. The Liberty House website (www.libertyhousenh.org)
has a list of items that its veterans need. Click
here to view their recent "WISH LIST".

211 is the number to
dial when you need help or don’t know where to call. By dialing 211
information is much easier to find. 211
is a free and confidential call from anywhere in NH. 211
is person-to-person assistance. 211 is
available 24/7 with translation assistance in over 150 languages. Click
here for more information. Read a promotional
card listing some of the many resources available through New Hampshire
211.

You MUST have a street address, NOT a Post Office
Box to receive a Veterans Choice Card. So, list both the street address
and the POB with the VA. Suggest calling the VA at whatever contact
number you have and make sure your address is NOT a POB. For more
information on Veterans Choice Cards, click
here.

New Hampshire veterans and active-duty service members
can now proudly show proof of their service on their New Hampshire drivers
licenses. Under the Veterans Indicator program, military service
members on active duty or veterans who have been honorably discharged from
the United State armed forces can indicate that status when applying for
or renewing their driver’s license or non-driver’s ID. There is no additional
cost for the Veterans Indicator. Veterans wishing to add the Indicator
to their license before its renewal can get a replacement license for a
$3 fee. Veterans Indicator licenses are now available at all Department
of Motor Vehicle locations throughout New Hampshire. Click here for
more information on Veterans
Indictor program. Click here for the new drivers
license application form.

The
New Hampshire Veterans Home is looking for a few good men – or women –
to volunteer for a special mission to serve some of the Home’s most challenged
residents.

A
special group of volunteers, to be called the Highlanders, is being sought
to spend some hours with the veterans in the Home’s Highland Hall unit,
an area where many of the residents are in the end stages of various forms
of dementia or have other severe health challenges that may limit their
ability to respond and communicate.

Communication
and support at these times can take various forms – reading, playing familiar
music, sometimes just a smile or a simple caring touch. The important thing
is just being there for these men and women who have served our country.
Volunteers for this special service would be trained by the Home’s staff
to engage those veterans through a wide variety of techniques including
sensory stimulation, aroma therapy, music therapy or Snozelen, a multisensory
environment designed to help those with developmental disabilities, dementia
or neurological problems to regulate how much sensory stimulation they
want to experience.

The
New Hampshire Veterans Home depends heavily on the kindness and generosity
of many veterans’ service organizations and individuals who give their
time to support the veterans here. If you feel called to and suited
for this special volunteer service, please contact NHVH Volunteer Coordinator
Lisa Punderson, 603-527-4449, or Social Worker Kristen Griffin, 603-527-4812,
for more information.

There are hundreds of benefits available to military
veterans. From health care to education and training, tohousing assistance
and more. But sometimes it can be difficult to know which veterans
benefits are out there,and which you may be eligible for. Part of
the problem is the sheer number of benefits programs, and part ofthe problem
is misconceptions about who is eligible for these programs. These
topics and more are covered in this Veterans
Benefits Guide, and provides the resources needed to find more information
about eligibility and how to apply.

Click
here for a list of links to websites that provide information on
Veterans benefits and how to file/ask for them. Accordingly, there are
many sites that explain how to obtain books, military/medical records,
information and how to appeal a denied claim with the VA. Nearly
100% of this information is free and available for all veterans, the only
catch is: you have to ask for it, because they won't tell you about a specific
benefit unless you ask for it. You need to know what questions to
ask so the right doors open for you and then be ready to have an advocate
who is willing to work with and for you, stay in the process, and press
for your rights and your best interests.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has developed
a new public service announcement (PSA) to let women Veterans know they've
come to “The Right Place” when seeking VA health care. Read
their press release.

PLEASE, take a few minutes RIGHT NOW to SHARE (Survey
Helping to Advance Recovery Efforts). This quick & confidential
survey will benefit today's veterans dealing with post-combat injuries
and help veterans for years to come. See
the flyer for more information on how to complete the survey online.
If you prefer, you can complete the suvey
by hand and mail it to the address indicated. All information
will remain confidential. Please help support this important
program.

Here's a riddle: When is a government benefit that
pays for caregivers, assisted living and a nursing home not a benefit?
When hardly any people know they're entitled to it.
That seems to be the story with a Department of
Veterans Affairs benefit called the Aid and Attendance and Housebound
Improved Pension benefit, known as A&A, which can cover
the costs of caregivers in the home (including sons and daughters who are
paid to be caregivers, though not spouses) or be used for assisted living
or a nursing home. READ MORE

The following information was provided by chapter
member Col Michael W. Horne, NHANG (Ret.), Director, NH State Veterans
Cemetery:

- For a veteran to be interred at the NH Sate Veterans Cemetery, there
is no charge (NHSVC provides the cemetery plot or columbarium niche, the
burial, and the ordering/installation of headstone or niche marker, and
perpetual care). NHSVC then collects the veteran’s burial fee directly
from the VA.

- For the interment of a veteran's spouse or dependent child, they charge
$350.
[Note – the spouse and if dependent children
are interred in the same grave or columbarium niche as the veteran. The
$350 covers administrative costs, opening the grave (burial), ordering,
installing the headstone with additional spouse information, and perpetual
care.]

NOTE: if the interment is a casket, “the funeral home” charges the veteran/family
for the casket and the required concrete vault. The good news is NHSVC
does not require a vault for in ground cremains so that isn’t an additional
cost to anyone.

NHSVC encourages all veterans considering to be interred there to submit
an application now and get pre-certified. Pre-certification makes it SO
much easier on family members when a veteran or spouse dies. Print
out the attached application,
fill in the requested information, attach a copy of your DD214, NGB22,
etc. and mail or fax it to them.

The Pease Greeters is a group, started by
the Seacoast Detachment, Marine Corps League, who greet flights of service
men and women, at the Pease Air Terminal in Portsmouth, NH, both returning
and heading overseas to the Middle East. They provide hot coffee,
doughnuts, pizza and other refreshments as well as a bank of twenty permanently
mounted phones for use free of charge by the veterans. If you want
to learn more about this worthwhile group or to volunteer to be a greeter,
visit their website at http://www.peasegreeters.org/

MOAA-NH Chapter member LCDR David Kenney, USN,
who is also president of the New Hampshire Reserve Officers Association,
has compiled a guide that provides online and local resources for those
seeking information or wanting to provide care packages, etc. for deployed
troops. This is only a guide – there are many other sources available through
national organizations like the Red Cross and the USO. View the guide
in HTML format or
PDF
format.

The NH National Guard Family Program has established
a “yellow pages” directory of volunteers to assist families of deployed
troops. Anyone can volunteer who has a trade or skill that can help
a family in need. These skills could be snow removal, carpentry,
automotive maintenance, financial planners or computer technical assistance.
The volunteer decides which part of the state to give assistance.
This could be a specific town, county or region. If you are interested
in providing any volunteer services, please e-mail First Lieutenant Suzanne
Barricklow at suzanne.barricklow@us.army.milor
(603) 227-1496. This is a challenging time for our deployed service
members and their families and any assistance you can provide will be greatly
appreciated.

The attached two lists (Military
Discounts & 174
Stores and Business ...) shows restaurants, products, etc. that supposedly
offer discounts to military and federal employees. Some companies
may only offer the discounts to active duty military and not retired military.
Whether discounts are offered and how much may vary amoung individual locations.
The
bottom line is that it doesn't hurt to ask!

Whaleback Mountain in Enfield, New Hampshire,
offers a discount for unlimited season ski passes for vets. Passes
that normally cost $399 are $99 for active duty military and for vets,
with proof of service. Check out their web site at http://www.whaleback.com/season-passes.html.

Do you want to spruce up your computer's desktop?
Download the Zip file
of the MOAA-NH desktop background wallpaper!
(It requires a Zip program, such as Win Zip, PKZip, etc. to open
the file.)Choose from 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768 or 1280x1024 screen resolutions
to fit you desktop.
This is what it looks like: